


The faerie who cried wolf

by TheUltimateBookworm



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 12:15:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16661003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUltimateBookworm/pseuds/TheUltimateBookworm
Summary: Cardan is constantly making excuses for why he can't do anything, so when he actually gets sick Jude doesn't believe him.Cardan panics. The Bomb, Roach, and Ghost don't know what to do, because faeries rarely get sick. Jude's the one who has to take care of him.





	The faerie who cried wolf

**Author's Note:**

> I was working on writing something else, then suddenly this fic popped into my head. I had to write. Sorry it's a bit messy. I wasn't planning on posting it. :)

Getting Cardan to do something, even the smallest or easiest of things, made Jude want to pull her hair out. He typically made excuses. 

“But Juuudde,” He whined dramatically as she pulled open the curtains and let the sunlight into his room. “I have a headache.”

“Perhaps you should've drank less last night.” She told him, before leaving.

When he wanted to skip a meeting, he complained of a sore throat. She raised an eyebrow, “You were cheering Locke on while he climbed the tallest tree you could find.”

“We were adventuring.” Cardan says.

“You were drunk.” She says evenly as she drags him out of bed.

It's easy to counter his complaints. “I have a headache” is followed by “you were drunk.” “My eyes are scratchy” is shot down by “You should've gone to bed earlier.” “My stomach is upset.” is met by a pointed look at the glass in his hand and “Perhaps you'll start the day with food instead of alcohol next time.” 

It's easy to ignore, because every complaint can be easily explained. 

Jude isn't sure what Cardan thinks will happen. He can't seriously believe she'll let him have the day off. In all her time around faeries, she's never seen one get sick, so she knows he's exaggerating. 

Jude takes a deep breath as she marches towards his room, wondering what he'll complain of today. Yesterday it was sore feet which she brushed away with “too much dancing.”

“Get up.” She throws his door open and heads for the curtains. Cardan blinks sleepily at her. 

She glares at him, “Go on, what's your excuse?”

He blinks at her again. Jude would laugh at his messy hair and dazed expression if she wasn't already bracing for the fight she knows will follow. 

“Too bright.” He moans, throwing a hand across his eyes.

“You'll get used to it.” She tells him. “You have meetings all morning. At least pretend you're paying attention.”

She knows that she'll be left with all the work, but Cardan needs to pretend to be king. There would be chaos if the faeries realized a human was in charge. 

“My eyes aren't adjusting,” Cardan mumbles. “and my head hurts.” 

“Drink less next time.” Jude responds as she always does. “Get dressed.”

Jude leaves. She double checks the schedule for the day, noting where she'll need to be. Often she needs to be in two or more places at once and has to prioritize. It would be easier if Cardan would actually do something, but she knows that will never happen.

She goes to wake Cardan for the second time.

“Cardan, if you don't get up you won't have time to eat before the meeting.” She says flinging the door open. It hits the wall.

“Ow. Headache.” Cardan mutters at the noise.

Jude would feel sorry if he wasn't still in bed. “Get up.”

“I'm tired.” 

“Too bad, it's time for breakfast.”

“I'm not hungry.” He says, refusing to move.

That stops her, but only for a second. Cardan sometimes skips breakfast when he drank too much the night before. 

“No drinking until you eat.” Jude warns him.

“Fine.” Cardan spits out but it lacks his usual anger. Then even softer, “I think there's something wrong with me.”

“You have thirty minutes. Got it?”

Cardan's eyes plead with her, but she stays firm.

“I'll be there.” Cardan says closing his eyes again.

Jude doesn't worry about Cardan, since she's heard those excuses many times before. However Bomb must not be used to his games, because Cardan somehow convinces her he needs the day off.

“Hey, Queen?” Bomb asks. 

“Bomb.” Jude nods to her, barely looking up from the papers in front of her. “Something wrong?”

“It's the king. He seems… tired.” Bomb says hesitantly. “He doesn't look well. Maybe you should let him rest. Just for today.”

Jude sighs, count on Cardan spin half truths to get what he wants. “He's fine Bomb. He just drank too much again.”

“Sure, okay.” Bomb says, backing out of her office.

Jude barely gets an hour of work done before the Roach is at her door.

“He didn't drink.” Roach says. “Last night, Cardan wasn't drinking.”

This is surprising enough, that Jude stops working to look at him. “Cardan always drinks at a party.”

“I was watching him the whole time. He played his games and danced as always, but he didn't have more than a glass at the start of the night.”

Jude studies him. If she didn't know faeries can't lie, she would never believe him.

“Just didn't want you to blame me if something is actually wrong with him.” With that, he leaves.

Despite the worry growing in her stomach, Jude decides to wait until the afternoon to check on Cardan.

The rest of the morning is a blur. It's late afternoon before Jude has a chance to breathe. She's still got stacks of paperwork to do, when Ghost walks in without knocking.

“Something is wrong with Cardan. We don't know what to do.” He says. “We need help.”

Because it's Ghost, who she knows would've tried everything before bothering her, she immediately drops what she's doing and follows him. 

“What's wrong?” She asks as they walk.

Ghost shakes his head, “He's pale and shaking. He says he's freezing, but he's sweating. Do you think he's been poisoned?”

“I'm not sure.” Jude replies. “I have to see him first.”

When they reach Cardan’s room, she finds Bomb pacing outside. Ghost looks between the two of them.  
“Wait here.” She orders Ghost.

She finds Cardan curled up on the bed.

“Cardan?” She says softly.

“Go away.” He says.

She does the opposite, coming to sit on the edge of the bed. 

Jude studies him. As Ghost told her, his skin is pale. He's shivering, but covered in sweat. His eyes are bright as if he has a fever. He trembles slightly though a pile of blankets sit on top of him.

She presses the back of her hand to his forehead. As she expected, he’s warm.

“Your sick.” She says. 

“Faeries rarely get sick.” He says, pulling away from her hand. She didn't think they could get sick, but Cardan's not poisoned.

Jude looks at Cardan, curled into a small shaking ball. She can't leave him as he is. She hates him for making her care that he's sick, but she does care. She finds a pair of pajama pants and a soft t shirt for him. 

“Here. Get changed.” She says as gently as she can while still maintaining her normal coldness towards him.

She steps outside for a minute giving him a chance to change. 

“What's wrong with him?” Bomb asks. Ghost looks at her expectantly.

“Best guess? He has the flu.” Jude tells them.

“What's that?” Bomb swallows. “Is it- is it bad?”

“He'll be fine.” Jude assures them. Faeries have better immune systems than humans, he'll probably be better in a day or two. “Ghost get some tea and soup. Bomb, I need a rag, wet it with cold water.”

When they return with them, she tells them they can leave.

Cardan is in the same position as when she left, but he's changed into the clothes she brought him. She sets the rag near the bed and sits next to him.

“Lunch.” She tells him, setting a bowl of soup in front of him. When he stares blankly at it, she prompts, “It'll make you feel better.”

This gets him to shift upwards, moving into a sitting position. She sees that he left his tail free, but it just sits limply on the bed. 

She makes him drink the tea first hoping to keep him hydrated despite his fever. Cardan doesn't have much of an appetite, but eats the soup dutifully. 

About halfway through, he wraps his arms around his stomach. His eyes squeeze shut as he makes a sound that is half a moan and half a whine. 

“Cardan? Are you all right?”

“It hurts.” He whimpers and his tail shudders. 

“Are you going to throw up?”

“What's that?” He asks. She reluctantly explains. 

“Ew. No.” Cardan says. His tail wraps around his stomach. “That's a human thing.”

Her relief at hearing him sound like himself again, is quickly erased when he sprints for the bathroom where he throws the soup back up. He's crying and gagging. Jude finds it hard to remember that she hates him, when he looks so pitiful.

“It's alright. You just need a good night's rest.” She soothes him as her sister once did for her. Jude sits next to him. She rubs his back with one hand and pulls the hair off his face with the other hand. 

“My sister would sit with me when I got sick.” She tells him. “It made it a little easier.”

When he's finished, Jude gets him his toothbrush to get rid of the taste. They she guides him back to bed.

“I don't want to do that again.” Cardan whimpers.

She tucks him back in and strokes his hair. Unfortunately he doesn't get his wish. He makes six more trips to the bathroom. She rubs his back through each of them. 

By the sixth time his stomach is completely empty. He's just gagging. His tail hugs his stomach as his body shudders. His body seems convinced there's something left to get rid of, but his stomach is empty.

Finally it's been a few minutes since he last felt sick.  
Cardan nods at her. She gently pulls him to his feet. He makes it three steps before he's heading for the toilet again. 

“Make it stop. Please.” Cardan sobs. “Please, Jude.”

Jude sits with him as waves of nausea come and go. Cardan’s tail wraps itself around the wrist of the hand that is pressing gently into his back. His tail’s grip is weak. He's clinging to her the only way he can. 

She strokes his hair gently and presses a soft kiss into his shoulder blade. “I'm here. I'm here. I'm here.”

When Cardan finally feels stable enough to lay in his bed, every bit of strength seems to have been drained out of him. He leans heavily against her shoulder. His head lolls against hers. His tail is still looped around her wrist.

She tucks him in again. His eyes close immediately. He's still feverish, so Jude sets the wet rag on his forehead. 

His eyes flick open, “I don't want to die.”

She's too surprised to respond. 

“I'm scared. I don't want to die. Don't leave me. Please. I'm scared.” Cardan rambles. Jude can't tell if it's the fever or he actually thinks he'll die or both.

“Cardan.” She tilts his chin so he's looking at her. “You're not going to die.”

“Faeries only get sick when their dying.” He sobs. 

“Humans get sick all the time and we're much more fragile.” She tries to reassure him.

Jude watches the tears roll down his cheeks, hears how even when he tries to stifle his sobs they still escape. She feels his tail tighten around her wrist. She sighs and slides under the covers next to him.

“Come here.” She says, pulling him close. “Come here, you beautiful stupid faerie.”

He soaks her shoulder with his tears. Rubbing circles on his back seems to calm him a little, so she keeps doing that. His tail wiggles its way underneath her, then loops around her waist, pulling them closer together. 

“You didn't believe me.” He whispers into her shoulder.

She sighs, “There's this story about a boy who is left to watch the villages sheep. He cries, ‘Wolf! Wolf!’ when there is no wolf. The villagers come running to save their sheep, but find no wolf. He laughs at his prank and, upset, they leave. Later he cries, ‘Wolf! Wolf!’ again. The villagers come running only to find him laughing at them. They leave angry. Later that night a wolf enters the field. The boy cries, ‘Wolf! Wolf!’ but the villagers assume he's playing another prank and don't come. So the wolf eats all the sheep. When Vivi told the story she said the wolf ate the boy as well, but I don't think that's how it originally ended.”

Cardan's breathing is heavy. She's not sure if he heard the end of the story or understood the moral. She debates leaving him now that he's asleep, but she doubts she can sneak away. 

His head is resting against her shoulder and his tail is firmly wrapped around her. So she stays. And she sleeps.

When Jude wakes up, she's too warm, sticky, and squished. Cardan's fever has definitely dropped, but between the blankets and his slightly warm skin she feels like she's in a furnace. Cardan is sticky with sweat and since he's on top of her she is as well. She can feel his elbow and knees and chin digging into her.

She knows when Cardan starts to wake up, because his tail gently strokes her arm. His tail skims up her arm, before brushing over her neck. She grabs it gently and pushes it away.

Cardan squirmes. His eyes shoot open. Curious, she runs two fingers down his tail. He giggles and rolls away. 

“Jude.” He whines. “That tickles. I'm tired and sick remember.”

She strokes the tuft of fur at the end of his tail once, because she can. Cardan wiggles. She can feel him biting her shoulder to keep from laughing.

“Hey. No biting.” She scolds him. 

She pulls his head away from her shoulder, so she can check his temperature. He's still warm and his eyes are slightly glassy, but he's getting his color back.

“Can I stay here today?” He asks, eyes pleading with her.

“Yes.”

“Will you stay with me?”

“Yes.” She says, even though she's too hot, sticky, and squished. “You need a shower though.”

"Not yet.”

"But you're gross." Jude complains.

"I'm comfortable." He says snuggling into her side.

She doesn't argue anymore. It's nice to lay beside him, even if he's sick. She likes the sound of his breathing and the way his tail holds on to her without him realizing. 

It's too bad they hate each other. It's too bad they are always fighting. She almost wishes they were more like this, like they are now.

“I get it.” Cardan says quietly. “The story. I get it.”

“No more excuses?” Jude asks.

Cardan sighs, more dramatically than necessary, “No more excuses.”

She closes her eyes and smiles softly. Maybe they can work together. Maybe they don't have to fight. Maybe, but she's certainly not going to be the one to say that.

“You know I'm going to use it against you, right?”

“What?” Cardan mumbles.

She pets his tail, laughing as he chokes out, “Jude!”

His anger is hard to take seriously since it's followed by giggling.

**Author's Note:**

> This fandom deserves a sicfic, so I wrote one. I really enjoyed this book and I'm hoping more people add to the fanfiction collection. If you're a writer, don't be afraid to share your work!


End file.
